Fifty-six different localities across Vietnam had by May, 2012 made 340 cooperative agreements with over 200 partners at local level from 30 countries around the world.

A fifth of the deals was reached under inter-provincial cooperation within governmental agreements or multi-partner cooperation framework while the remainder were bilateral agreements made at provincial level, according to the Foreign Ministry’s report that was revealed in Ho Chi Minh City on June 18.

Cooperation between different parts of Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia played an important role, with 35 Vietnamese localities establishing a relationship in Laos and 16 setting up one in Cambodia .

Thirty eight French localities also made deals with 18 Vietnamese areas, with 235 projects in all, focusing mainly on infrastructure and health care.

HCM City took the lead in international relations as it has been linked with 36 other cities around the world.

However, 70 percent of the agreements are only framework agreements and have either yet to come to fruition or have been simply exchanges of delegations or culturally based.

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry highlighted the need to make foreign relations more practical for everyone’s benefit and encourages the private sector, businesses and non-governmental organisations to become involved.-VNA